Iran wants oil above $70 a barrel

Oil prices should climb back above US$70 (HK$546) a barrel as a result of winter weather in the northern hemisphere and OPEC output decisions, a senior Iranian oil official said Sunday.
"The oil price in the world market has been more than [US]$70 per barrel in the past, but considering the fact that we are approaching winter and demand is increasing, this price could be higher," said Gholamhossein Nozari, managing director of state oil company NIOC.

"We are trying to increase the current oil price through controlling the market," the official IRNA news agency said.

Oil prices in New York and London closed just above US$62 per barrel Friday.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets Thursday to decide on output policy.

OPEC president Edmund Daukoru has said he favors a cut in production, deepening a cut of 1.2 million barrels per day agreed in October.

"OPEC will make appropriate decisions by having these realities in mind," he said on the fringe of an energy conference in Teheran Sunday.

Saudi Electricity said it has awarded US firm General Electric contracts worth 3.65 billion riyals (HK$7.56 billion) to help expand three power plants in key regions of the country. The project would increase the capacity of the three plants in the Eastern and Central provinces by 2,860 megawatts, Saudi Electricity, the kingdom's biggest utility by market value, said.

Completion is expected within 20 months, it added without giving further details. The firm was forced to ration power for two weeks in August in the two provinces - the kingdom's main industrial hubs - due to technical failures.

And XOM, HAL, VLO don't?? Let's commit genocide using WMD in Iran, god loves us when we do that. We are not barbaric though...let's wipe out their necessities of life to keep them weak and compliant to our corporations. We are liberators, we are not extreme or driven by racist hate. We love darkskinned people who have oil. *rolls eyes

All oil companies...THE BUSH OIL ADMINISTRATION...and all oil welfare states want oil at whatever the market will pay....

And could care less about developing countries...middle class, poor, etc...

The oil welfare states basically only have oil as their main export product....

What is even more insulting...is that the BUSH OIL ADMINISTRATION will now want to have the appearance that they are interested in alternative energy...and this is only after oil prices have been sent through the roof by their political policies...

Their political policies caused prices to be at least $25 higher than they would have been otherwise...

This money has helped finance terrorism by the way...and now that the oil welfare states have tasted oil prices at these levels...they are going to want to do everything in their power by whatever means to keep it high as possible...For some of them...oil at normal NONBUSH levels would cut their annual revenues in half...